Recent years have seen the migration of message services such as instant messaging and email to the mobile communications environment. In the standard desktop environment Instant Messaging (IM) provided real-time text-based or near real-time communication between two or more participants over a network. Thus the key distinction between IM from such services as email is the perceived synchronicity of the communication between users, messaging is done in real or near real-time. Instant messages are typically logged in a local message history which closes the gap to the persistent nature of emails and facilitates quick exchange of information like URLs or document snippets (which can be unwieldy when communicated via telephone). IM allows effective and efficient communication, featuring immediate receipt of acknowledgment or reply.
Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) differs slightly to that of standard desktop IM application. MIM is a presence enabled messaging service which attempts to transpose the desktop messaging experience to the usage scenario of being on the move. While several of the core ideas of the desktop experience on one hand apply to a connected mobile device, others do not. For example some of the form factor and mobility related differences need to be taken into account in order to create a really adequate, powerful and yet convenient mobile experience such as bandwidth, memory size, availability of media formats, keypad based input, screen output, CPU performance and battery power are core issues that are not confronted by desktop device users and even nomadic users with connected network.
The primary goal of any Instant Messaging application is to create a large community of users, who subsequently will remain loyal to the provider of community services. The incentive for creating the largest possible community of users from the service providers stand point is to maximise the amount of revenue through greater utilisation of their infrastructure. From the users stand point the incentive to build a community relates more to social interaction. Indeed the relationship between the user and service provider is somewhat symbiotic, the greater the number of users the greater the number of services a provider can afford to offer. However, with most mobile messaging clients as well as internet based messaging clients, a new user is often presented with a completely empty Buddy list. This presents a serious disincentive to a new user from becoming an active user of the messaging client, which in turn affects the growth of the community.
Clearly it would be advantageous to provide a system and method that would enable the matching of users of various mobile messaging clients in seamless and cost effective manner to facilitate the growth of a community of mobile users.